TribLIVE Sports Videos

Email Newsletters

Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

By Dejan Kovacevic

Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 10:45 p.m.

Now hear this, all you towel-waving, Tunch-loving football nuts: Your Pittsburgh Steelers — chins up, chests out! — are not a team in transition.

(OK, maybe a little re-William-Gay-ing and re-Matt-Spaeth-ing, but that's it.)

Just ask the chin-up-chest-out guy in chief …

“Our goals and mentality have not changed and will not change,” Mike Tomlin was telling us Monday on the South Side. “We desire to be a legitimate competitor for the Lombardi Trophy each and every year, and 2013 is no different than '12 or '11, or '15 or '16 for that matter.”

Then, for good measure, the coach repeated it: “That goal and that mentality and that approach will never change.”

Got that?

Nothing's changed.

The roster of last season's 8-8 team has lost — willingly or otherwise — a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year (James Harrison), a feature running back (Rashard Mendenhall), one of the league's top big-play receivers (Mike Wallace), a dynamic corner (Keenan Lewis) and a starting guard (Willie Colon).

Their anchor of the 3-4 defense (Casey Hampton) and the man who for years has had Ben Roethlisberger's back (Max Starks) are soon to be next.

The only newcomers have been quarterback Bruce Gradkowski and two other backups in Gay and Spaeth.

And nothing's changed?

I'm not debating the moves as a whole. In fact, I'm on record as being fine with most. The player who would have been best to keep was Lewis, but his five-year, $26 million with the Saints was out of whack. Another I'd still like to keep is Starks, but Tomlin's already decided he'll pick between Marcus Gilbert and Mike Adams for left tackle. That's not ideal, but it never is.

The point, rather, is this: The Steelers, no matter what they say, are rebuilding.

It's admirable Tomlin wouldn't want to lose the edge that comes — or has come — with simply being the Steelers. I'm not knocking that. But don't let dialogue distort reality: Seven starters are out, and three backups are in. That means all answers must come from:

1. Free agents, for which there is no free cash, so scratch this off right now.

2. Players who weren't good enough to be atop the depth chart of an 8-8 team.

3. The draft.

Thus, at least seven of the 22 starters will be younger, some strikingly so.

That, my friends, is rebuilding.

One opening will be manned by a fully capable Ramon Foster, who started all 16 games last season, anyway, through attrition. That's fine.

Not if you've heard how Tomlin has outwardly dumped on Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman this offseason.

So, no, the team won't get better with what it has. And that's logical. As Colbert repeated this week: “The talent that we had assembled was an 8-8 team.”

Which puts it all on the draft, then, doesn't it?

Oh, you know it.

It's a deep class, with particular quality at wide receiver and the secondary, and legit finds might be plentiful as late as the fourth round. There's no reason, no excuse for the Steelers not to emerge with viable impact talents.

That starts at the top.

And not to play Mel Kiper here, but I'd be delighted with Alabama running back Eddie Lacy at No. 17. He's the consensus best at his position, he came on strong late for the national champs, he's got Barry Foster legs and a between-the-tackles pedigree, and, really, there's nowhere the Steelers could benefit more from a serious shock to the system.

This much is certain: Whoever they get, they'd better not miss. Or the rebuilding will move into territory well beyond simple semantics.

I asked Colbert on Monday if all the upheaval of veterans puts more pressure on this weekend.

“No, every draft has been the same,” he answered. “We did have a few more departures than usual, but we still have eight picks. Every year, we expect ourselves to get the right 7-8 players. When we do, great. When we don't, it hurts. But it's really no more critical than any other year because I don't see anyone coming in and being immediate impact players. I think if we lined up today with what we have, we'll have a chance. We want to continue to add to that and let these players develop at their own pace.”

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Total Promotional Solutions

A division of Trib Total Media is your one-stop-shop for all of your branded merchandise needs.

We specialize in providing quality affordable promotional products for every type of business including non-profits, schools, universities, sports teams and more. With 1000’s of products to choose from, our knowledgeable staff can help you find the perfect apparel item or product to suit your needs and budget.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.